INDIA RUPEE-Rupee rises in-line with Asian peers as dollar rally cools

By Anushka Trivedi MUMBAI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee edged up against the U.S. currency on Monday along with its Asian peers, as the dollar index pulled back after a latest rally. The rupee was trading at 82.72 per dollar by 10:40 a.m. IST, as compared to its previous close of 82.83. The rupee fell less than its peers last week - a 0.4% dip on likely support from the country's central bank - amid a resilient dollar on expectations of a hawkish Federal Reserve. "Spot USD/INR's short-term trend remains up following bullish technical evidence. However, the central bank's selling at 83 becomes the biggest hurdle to cross this month," wrote Dilip Parmar, a research analyst at HDFC Securities. "On the downside, the earlier resistance of 82.50 becomes the support." Asian currencies staged a recovery on Monday, with the Thai baht and the Philippine peso leading with gains of around 0.7% each.

The dollar index ticked down at 103.920, dropping below a key 104 threshold. Recent inflation, retail sales and jobs data in the United States has strengthened the case for the Fed to hike rates multiple times this year and fuel a dollar rally.

Fed funds future indicate an over-80% chance of two 25 basis point hikes at both the next meetings, with probability for another similar-sized hike at the June meeting going up to 55%, according to the CME FedWatch tool. U.S. near maturity yields have jumped with the 2-year last week reaching its highest level since November. U.S. markets are shut Monday. Markets are now looking towards minutes of the U.S. central bank's Feb meeting due on Wednesday during U.S. hours, along with a couple of Fed officials that are scheduled to speak this week. (Reporting by Anushka Trivedi; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

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INDIA RUPEE-Rupee rises in-line with Asian peers as dollar rally cools

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